In the new film, Arrival, extraterrestrials once again pay Earth a visit. But many believe the aliens are already here. How good is the evidence? And what is the chance that experiments to eavesdrop on distant alien societies might succeed. Also, could aliens be behind the bizarre behavior of two star systems now making the news?

In the new film, Arrival, extraterrestrials once again pay Earth a visit. But many believe the aliens are already here. How good is the evidence? And what is the chance that experiments to eavesdrop on distant alien societies might succeed. Also, could aliens be behind the bizarre behavior of two star systems now making the news?

Founder/Director Melissa Butts of Melrae Pictures is producing a one-of-a-kind virtual reality (VR) documentary about last month’s incredible total eclipse of the Sun, “The Great American Eclipse 360.”

Are the Salad Days for Intelligence Still to Come?Could it be that Homo sapiens is the first intelligent species in the cosmos? Given the number of planets now known to pepper space, that seems unlikely. Seth Shostak writes about the idea for NBC’s tech/science page.